It was a holiday two years in the planning – three weeks travelling across the US culminating in the flashing lights of Las Vegas.
It was this Australian couple’s first time in the US – the trip of a lifetime and some rare time away from their other children aged, 10, 8 and 3. But Adelaide dad John Shaw never imaged it would end with him holding his stillborn son in his arms and saying goodbye to his 28-year-old wife.
He is now facing the difficult task of trying to get the bodies of his wife and stillborn son back to South Australia.
Natasha Angie, 26 weeks pregnant with her fourth child, was given the okay by doctors to make the 3-week trip across the U.S she was healthy and had three previously untroubled pregnancies.
But on Saturday May 14 while in Las Vegas Natasha fell ill.
Natasha and John while on holidays. Via Seven News.
She had a migraine and abdominal pain, but the couple didn't think it was anything serious, Natasha just wanted to rest.
“She never had a problem with any other pregnancy. We never thought this would happen," John Shaw told Deadly News.
"We thought it was just migraines," he said. "It was the same feeling she thought she had when she had a migraine back home, you know?"
The sickness came and went, for three days she had migraines and abdominal pains but she just rested.
Then early Saturday Natasha woke up her husband.
John told Deadly his wife had stroke-like symptoms and became unresponsive, so he called for an ambulance.
"On the ambulance bed, when she was taken out of the room, I told her I love you. She said I love you back to me twice, and that were the last words that came out of her mouth," he said.
Top Comments
I wish that women would be empowered as in given the information they need. for the cost of a $50 blood pressure monitor and information this mother could have saved her life, and we could be raising money to pay her medical bills in the USA instead of reading this terribly sad story. Why don't women who are pregnant know about this? Its so easy to monitor ones own blood pressure. These things might be rare, but they do happen.
Unless your suggesting that all pregnant women learn every symptom of every possible pregnancy complication then that would be incredibly dangerous. Women should definitely be empowered to know symptoms to be concerned about (such as headache), but someone monitoring their own blood pressure when they don't have the training to fully understand what that means, could easily prevent them seeking help and medical advice when they need it.
Case in point- Me. As a completely low risk pregnancy, healthy, young women, no known risk factors, I developed HELLP in my first pregnancy, I was incredibly, dangerously sick. However my blood pressure was 140/85, borderline, but definitely not remarkable. Had I been monitoring my own blood pressure at home I would have easily ignored my other symptoms, not gone to hospital, and quite likely have had a very bad outcome.
Women should definitely be empowered to know the symptoms to look out for, headache, blurred vision, abdominal pain, itch, decreased fetal movements etc, which could indicate a problem, and if they arise, they should seek medical advice, not attempt to monitor their condition at home. I agree this tragedy could have been prevented through better education regarding symptoms to watch for, however definitely not by owning your own BP monitor without the proper training to use it.
I can see what you're saying, and I understand your point but it takes 10 minutes to learn how to use a blood pressure machine, it's really very basic. I told women at many, many visits what to look out for in terms of HELLP or pre-eclampsia, and if they had a blood pressure machine I would teach them how to use it and to tell them to come in, or at least call if the lower number was above 90 or the higher number above 125. There's also nothing stopping women from buying pee sticks so they can test their own urine for sugar and protein if they would care to do so.
I really don't think that giving women the agency and information to make very simple diagnoses (such as higher than normal blood pressure) can ever be a bad idea. As with everything, information is power.
HELLP syndrome is quite different from preeclampsia and can be present without high blood pressure HELLP syndrome is rarer than preeclampsia. I had my bp checked by my OB a week before I ended up in hospital I complained of severe heart burn that could not be releived, my BP was fine. I had pitting oedema! My OB ignored my symptoms but them down to pregnancy related symptoms! I was 22 weeks it's not common to develop HELLP at 22 weeks. It was a gp that saved my life and me for being persistent. I lost my baby girl. I take extreme offence to most things you have said I think awareness is crucial! But I think this is crucial for medical staff as well as the patient. I did everything I could as I knew I wasn't well. My baby girl died I survived. taking my BP would not have changed anything. HELLP was quick, fierce and fast progressing in my case and I did not present with any PE symptoms until the day I ended up in hospital. As I said my bp was normal a week before! 22 weeks not the usual stage to develop PE or HELLP. Really I'm a nurse and knew all about preeclampsia but never heard of help syndrome!
"John said they assumed Natasha was healthy as she had no symptoms and no problems with her past three pregnancies."
Don't they do regular blood pressure testing and blood/urine tests during pregnancy?
Yes, those are regular tests, and she would have been tested by her care providers at every visit. Having said that, this is something that can come on really quickly.
I'll give you an example. I was seeing a woman in the ante natal clinic weekly from 36 weeks. At 36 weeks she was fine. At 37 weeks she had protein in her urine, was having headaches and seeing blue spots and her blood pressure was 240/180. I was worried she was going to stroke out or have a seizure between the time we realised this, and the time it took to get her down to the delivery suite for an induction and hell of a lot of magnesium sulfate.
HELLP Syndrome and pre-eclampsia are the very reason we have ante natal appointments in the first place. As you can see from this story it can be fatal, and very quickly fatal, to both mother and baby.